Download the Android Studio early access preview

Yesterday at Google I/O, Google announced 'Android Studio', a new IDE for Android development based on the community release of IntelliJ by JetBrains, a very well respected piece of software. The early access preview release of Android Studio is available for download now for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Currently at version 0.1 (yes, it's a REALLY early access preview), the download includes the Android Studio early access preview itself, all the Android SDK Tools to design, test, debug, and profile your app, the latest Android platform to compile your app and the latest Android system image to run your app in the emulator.

Highlights include...

Gradle-based build support.

Android-specific refactoring and quick fixes.

Lint tools to catch performance, usability, version compatibility and other problems.

ProGuard and app-signing capabilities.

Template-based wizards to create common Android designs and components.

A rich layout editor that allows you to drag-and-drop UI components, preview layouts on multiple screen configurations, and much more.

I've had a play and while performance is a bit sketchy in places, it's a very solid start and I suspect it'll become a lot of developer's IDE of choice over Eclipse as it matures.